Tribunal rejects APC, Emerhor’s Objection, admits INEC’s documents in Evidence

·         Smart card reader data upload accreditation status as at Thursday, April 16, 2015 admitted

·         Polling units without accreditation figures as at April 15, 2015 admitted

·         Petitioners, respondent’s counsels to address Tribunal October 13, 2015

The Governorship Election Petition Tribunal Wednesday morning announced the closure of case for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) after it rejected objection by Chief Thomson Okpoko (SAN), lead counsel to the petitioners, All Progressive Congress (APC) and its governorship candidate in the April 11, 2015 governorship election, Olorogun O’tega Emerhor to the tendering of two documents by INEC from the bar.

APC and Emerhor are challenging the declaration of Senator (Dr.) Ifeanyi Okowa as winner of the Delta State governorship elections held on April 11, 2015.

INEC counsel for the day, Mr. O. Anumonye in opening the defense for the electoral body which is the third respondent applied to the tribunal to tender the following documents:

·         Smart card reader data upload accreditation status as at Thursday, April 16, 2015, and

·         Polling units without accreditation figures as at April 15, 2015.

The INEC counsel also sought to tender all the accompanying receipts and the certificates of certification for the documents.

Counsel to Governor Ifeanyi Okowa, the first respondent told the tribunal that he had no objection to the tendering of the documents as they are duly certified. The same position was also taken by Mr. Kehinde Ogunwumiju for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), which is also the second respondent.

Okpoko in his objection based his grounds on the submission that the documents are inadmissible having been previously rejected by the tribunal. He argued that a document tendered and rejected cannot again be retendered. He then cited a Supreme Court decision to buttress his objection and urged the tribunal not to allow the document to be tendered.

Replying to Okpoko’s submissions, Anumonye told the tribunal that the APC and Emerhor’s counsel’s objection is misconceived. He argued that in dealing with a document tendered and marked rejected, he submitted that the difference must always be drawn between a document that is inherently inadmissible and the one that is not. “These documents tendered are not inherently inadmissible. Incidentally, the relevant decision is that of the Supreme Court in Talib v. GTB 2011 AFWLR part 602, page 1502, where the Supreme Court held that the document should be tendered and received in evidence having fulfilled the conditions necessary for it to be admissible.”

Anumonye also cited the case of Aribisala v. Ogunyemi, 2001 AFWLR, part 31, page 2867 at pages 2875-2876, where it was held that the document sought to be tendered is not the same document that was rejected.

The tribunal then called for the documents and after taking time to examine them said in their ruling that although the two documents are similar, but that they could find any mark of rejected on them. It accordingly dismissed Okpoko’s objection and admitted the documents in evidence and marked them as Exhibits R32 and R32A.

Anumonye then stood up and told that the tribunal having reviewed the evidence given at the tribunal, INEC as the third respondent will not be calling any witness. “We rest our case on the evidence we have elicited under cross examination,” he submitted.

Accordingly, the Tribunal Chairman, Justice Nasiru Gunmi announced the closure of the case for the third, fourth and fifth respondents, namely, INEC, the Resident Electoral commissioner and the Chief returning officer for Delta State. Gunmi also announced the schedule to be followed by both the petitioners and the respondents present their addresses to the tribunal.

The tribunal subsequently adjourned till October 13, 2015 for the presentation of address by the petitioners and respondents.